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I try to be, and I think of myself as, a pretty open-minded person. I like something about most every type of music. When it comes to Country, I like the older stuff. By that I mean anything from the Public Domain days up until sometime in the late 80's or so. IMO, after that, Country wasn't what it used to be anymore.

In the last few years some artists have come along who seem to be doing the kind of Country I thought was long gone. People who care about the songs, and the craft itself. I for one am glad to see it happening.

Here's one of my personal favorites of George Jones. I still get chills when I hear them head into the bridge and chorus.

My Blue Heaven. I couldn't decide, so here are four different takes on it. Note: Certain members here may enjoy the seven-string that appears in one of these videos. (No offense to Fats Domino... I love his version too.)

You're welcome. Glad you made it. Here's how I handle the video thing:

While I'm watching a YouTube clip, I copy and cut the URL of it. Then, I come here and login, choose the correct topic and get to the right place, hit 'reply to thread'. That moves me down to the text box at the bottom of the page. I write a comment (or not), then I hit the icon for 'Insert Video', which on my screen is the third one from my right. Paste the URL in the popup screen, hit 'ok', finish my post, and hit 'quick reply'. Done.

My way is probably the old fashioned way, but it works for me. PLUS, it keeps me from being tempted to post twenty YouTubes a day, which would be a bit much I think. (And I almost always sign my posts in some way, but obviously it's not necessary. Just out of habit...)

Charlie Hunter has been stuck in my head for the last few days. This video is amazing! An hour+ of this insanity! (another 7 stringer!)

WOW! Thank you for posting this. Incredible. I would love to catch this in person. And I'd also like to check out something with fanned frets someday too... I've only seen them in pictures, mags, videos, etc.; never had one in my hands.

WOW! Thank you for posting this. Incredible. I would love to catch this in person. And I'd also like to check out something with fanned frets someday too... I've only seen them in pictures, mags, videos, etc.; never had one in my hands.

Goldtop

He's insane. I think most on-musicians just can't grasp the complexity. He's also got an amazing range.

I haven't played anything with fanned frets, yet, either. It's on the list to try, but I don't know about buying.

I gotta say, thanks for all the time and thought you put into this post. I'm really enjoying it and learning.

I gotta say, thanks for all the time and thought you put into this post. I'm really enjoying it and learning.

Wow. You're very welcome. I really appreciate you saying so, as well as joining in. We're all in it together. This is so much fun for me, and I learn things too. Artists and genres I may not be all that up on, it seems like sooner or later they show up here. Thanks again.

Welllll... Tuesday morning (barely where I am. I'm getting around late today.) Lots of aches and pains in this ugly old body today. I feel like I've been beaten about the head and body with a dead muskrat.

REDSKINS WON!!!!! YAY!!!!! I was afraid my blabbing about them might jinx it - it's happened before against the Sowboys - but this time it worked out. One of the best MNF games I've seen in awhile, regardless of teams.

I need to pay bills, but I maaaayyyyyy talk myself into waiting until tomorrow. But at least I'm thinking about doing it. Thinking about Money... Listening to it too.

For some reason, this 'Pick a Card' thing a lot of us are involved makes me think of this video. NO idea what the connection is, but I dig it.

Odd Story Time: Maybe I shouldn't get into this here and now, but it's only Tuesday so why not? (Huh???)

Many years ago, I worked with a young woman. Odd, right? No, that's not it. Wait a minute... Many years ago I worked with a young woman named Paula. (BTW, I'm changing her name here to Paula, which is freaky, because her name actually was Paula, but I digress.) Anyhoo, Paula and I worked together for a few months. Paula liked to go out to bars. A lot. I was never much on that, for far too many reasons to get into here and now. I've been to bars of course, but usually any time I went it was to see the musician(s). But after nagging me for a few weeks, I agreed to go with her to some joint. "Ernie's Bar" or whatever. At the time I thought it an odd place to go for someone as young as Paula - she was in her mid-twenties - but I didn't say anything. The whole night was her idea, so whatever she wanted was fine with me.

The night rolled around and we went. An okay night, uneventful, just friends, two pitchers of cheap beer, no biggie. Paula got a little drunk, but not toasted. But she was bad enough that I didn't want her driving, so with her permission I took her keys. I planned to stop by her house the next day and bring her back to Ernie's to get her car. 'I jushhhh luuuuuve youuu takin' care o'meee.' It was a joke, like I was her protector. Even the ancient bartender with the Marlboro hanging out of her face said I was a sweetheart.

So at the end of the night we end up back at Paula's place in the sunken den at the back of the house. First bad sign? Busted TV. As in a-baby-stroller-sticking-out-of-the-screen busted. Odd, because Paula was single and had no kids. Second bad sign? Paula kept shushing me, telling me to keep my voice down 'cause I might wake 'em up!' 'Em?!? 'EM WHO? She lived alone.

Long story short, she had started acting odd on the way home, but sometime in the twenty minutes between when I took her keys, and when we drove to her place and made it into her den, Charles Manson moved into the spare room Paula kept for him in her noggin. She got up to go pee, was out of the room no more than five seconds (not long enough to even make it to the bathroom), came back, and it was Susan Powter time! STOP THE INSANITY!!! She heard things. She saw things. She - and I kid you not - sang me the entire song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones, and did it at a volume roughly equal to something found on a Naval Carrier flightdeck. It was bad, it was loud, and it went on forever! I was worried about her waking up the entire block, nevermind whomever it was she was warning me about at the beginning.

Please note: When I describe these events to you, let me reiterate that I'm not talking about a gradual change over the span several minutes. I'm talking about the same amount of time that it takes to flip a lightswitch. Instantly. One second, it's no breakfast for me, thanks. Next second; CooCoo for CocoaPuffs!

Next thing I know, Paula's telling me why Bette Midler is a genius and why Texas 'ain't her kinda place' and racing through the house. I thought "Honey, EARTH ain't your kinda place! Somewhere along the way - and I'll change it up a little to keep it PG - her Levis ended up unzipped just slightly (!) and then I got an encore of The Stones again, only this time it was "Jumpin' Jack Flash", complete with W-I-D-E squats and the added attraction of her pink Granny panties bunched up and sticking out above her zipper like a weird fannypack.

I have lived some, let's just put it that way. I've seen some things, and been around more of the unseemly side of life than I wish I had. I've been around more drunks and ODs than I'd care to remember, but Paula was into uncharted territory. Every now and then she would vanish off into some other part of the house - thank God it was a one story - and I'd hear her banging into things and slamming doors, searching for a cigarette lighter that she never seemed to be able to locate. And breaking off into other songs! REO, Blue Oyster Cult, Skynyrd... Paula really seemed to be into the 70's arena acts.

All this time, I'm transfixed on the couch. I can't decide whether to make a mad dash for my car, call a cop, talk to The Heavens, start an exorcism, what... I thought about telling her I was more of a Who guy, but that didn't seem the right move. A couple of times as she zoomed by me I tried to grab her and rein her, but she was too fast for me. I had a gun with me, but I didn't want to shoot and wing her. WAY too much explaining to do on that one!

I decided to just try to ride it out and hope that she'd come down/calm down/ wind down/ fall down. As it happened, on lap God knows what, she was coming back through the doorway into the den, got her feet tangled up, and went down flat on her face like a bag of wet cement. She landed right in front of me, right where a coffee table probably sat at one time (before one of her previous 'episodes' perhaps). Perfect! I couldn't have asked for better.

I checked and she had a pulse and no bloodloss, but she was out cold. Oh well; at least she rode the storm out. I got her gathered up and into her bed, still in her clothes. She had lost her shoes somewhere along her journey, and I couldn't possibly have cared less. I wedged her and braced her with pillows like (hopefully) we all know to do in these situations to keep everybody safe. Then I got around and went home.

I didn't hear anything from Paula for two or three days after that. Finally, she sent some pal of hers to come to get her keys. Paula herself never had the courage to face me again, which was sad. She ended up quitting over it. It's wasn't that big a deal to me, but I guess it was to her.

You may ask why I share this story with you here and now? Because I always thought Paula looked a little like kd lang...

Just a little bit more about the kd lang video above if you'll indulge me. I don't know about everybody, but I am always listening. Every sound. The birds, the leaves on the ground, the geese overhead (I love that one...). I don't know how good my ear it, but it works for me. The sound on that kd lang tune is amazing to me. I can't remember off the top of my head who produced that, but they were good IMO. The sound on that is so rich, so complex. There are too many percussion instruments on there to count, yet they never step on each other or get boomy. It's lush, but not mushy. It's strong, but it's secure about it (if that makes any sense). The drummer, if it isn't Jim Keltner, is coming a close second. Round, warm drums and cymbals. Nothing harsh. And the little turn around he(?) plays at about the 3:30? Beautiful.

I'm almost as into drummers as I am guitar players, and this is a great one. Again, only IMO.

Great production on this one too I think, although not the same as for kd. I know who did this stuff; some major players on this one. This is an album we were just talking about the other day over on the 'Lyrics that matter' thread. I have to confess to being a little jealous of this guy. As stated above, I saw Paula's granny panties. This guy has seen whatever wonderous visions of beauty that Stevie Nicks wore back years ago when they dated. I'd proudly do her laundry.

What a lady. Married to Waylon Jennings for many years until he finally died with diabetes. Mother to Shooter. She was part of The Outlaw Movement with Willie, Waylon, and Tompall back in the 70's. The best voice? Maybe not, but to me, it's one of the prettiest, and it makes me cry whenever I hear it. I don't want to get sappy here, so I'll just put it this way: I wish that at some point in my life I had had a love like the one between Waylon and Jessi.